SAFA Skysailor Magazine

26 SKY SAILOR July | August 2024 Matt had caught up and I was happy to see Lawrie put it down safely, Matt and I mimicked. Safely down and exhausted, we hiked to the camp area. A lovely night by the Hidden Lakes was shared by seven or eight pilots, including two supporters. My instrument’s maximum wind for the day told me 35km/h – not really ideal for flying mountains. What a day! Early the next morning, after breakfast and packing ready to go, a look over the valley promised new challenges: Lots of cloud at various levels. Our hill faced west, and the Treble Cone side looked clouded out, with patches of sun filtering through occasionally, at least the wind had eased! Choices: Hike up here over steep rough terrain or dive across and hike up the much easier Treble Cone Road. There was a slight A New Zealand adventure – Part 2 adiabatic running down the hill. Johannes from Germany launched first and flew directly across, but it didn’t last long before he started sinking. He had a decent walk to Treble Cone. I decided on the dive to the road as the wind turned more favourable, but Lawrie and Matt hiked the hill, more to tag Buchanan on the way across, not having tagged it the previous day. The dive across was glorious, a silky smooth flight with a slight cross/tailwind. I was doing 50km/h on half bar with a glorious view of the sun on Wanaka lake. I landed on the first corner and started walking, slow but much easier than Roys! The others had climbed a fair bit and were waiting for conditions to improve, I relayed what information I had from my observations and other wings in the air. The day was improving, the sun came out. We were close to arriving at TC launch at the same time, but the